Ken Hall: Secretive 'push polls' a part of dirty politics

You can tell when a campaign is going to get dirty. It starts with something known as a "push poll."

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By Ken Hall

recordonline.com

By Ken Hall

Posted Sep. 5, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Ken Hall

Posted Sep. 5, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

You can tell when a campaign is going to get dirty. It starts with something known as a "push poll."

As with other polls, it starts with a phone call. As it goes on, the pollster stops trying to gather information and starts planting disinformation about a candidate. By the end, anybody who did not know much about the contest has learned a lot of nasty secrets, most of them lies, others mere distortions, to poison the reputation of one candidate.

The polls work best when they remain secret. That's why nobody ever admits to sponsoring one and why the candidate who benefits is always careful to maintain some plausible deniability.

In Orange County, where politics is heated but rarely dirty, news of a push poll has surfaced in the race for county executive. Three Republicans in three parts of the county — Newburgh, Warwick and Woodbury — received calls that started with poll-like questions but evolved into something one said was "like an infocommercial to say bad things about Roxanne" Donnery, the Democratic candidate for county executive. The Republican candidate whom the pushing pollster praised by comparison, Steve Neuhaus, said he did not commission the poll and did not know about it.

What we do know is that the poll came from a Florida number that does not accept calls and that it was conducted by Central Research, the same firm that handled similar operations opposing Barack Obama in 2008. What we know from the history of push polls is that they get commissioned only when those backing one candidate fear the strength of the opposition.

Now that this poll is public, it loses some power. Those who receive future calls should be more likely to hang up or start arguing, in which case the caller will hang up first.

While it would be nice to think that this is some malignant outside political force invading our county, recent history does have its own home-grown example. Last year, Republicans in New Windsor worked to defeat a Town Board candidate who had been a victim of domestic violence by using a mug shot in campaign ads and distorting the case beyond recognition. Voters proved to be smarter than the political operatives in that case and the first-time candidate easily won the contest.

As with most nasty political examples, it was hard to find any fingerprints on this one, anybody who wanted to take credit for using these techniques.

If some people would descend to those depths over such a minor position, we should not be surprised to see more dirt with much more at stake.

Of course, the candidates still have a chance to make a difference. Neuhaus and Donnery could put out a joint statement condemning push polls and other such techniques, calling on their supporters to abandon any efforts and threatening to work hard to reveal the identity of those who persist in that behavior.